A Leap of Change
By Hendro Suwito, World Vision Indonesia communicator
“Hellooo!!!” Saiful Anwar shouts.
“Hai…!!!” The children responded.
“Helloo...Helloo...Hai…!!!” Saiful again yells.
“Hai…Hello…Hello…!!!” The children shout in unison, smiling and giggling.
Saiful follows with three hilarious minutes of playing with the children. “My role is to make them fresh again so that they can absorb the lessons much easier,” he says.
Some 15 to 30 primary school children participate in each neighbourhood study group in poor Pegirian area in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia and capital of East Java province. Saiful and 20 other teenage colleagues have actively been mentoring all the children’s groups twice a week to help with their extra lessons and to develop their talents.
Indeed, Pegirian teenagers are no longer a burden for their community like some years ago. They have gradually transformed themselves from frustrated and problematical persons into jubilant and very confident characters. They have become sources of blessings for their community, and the younger children in particular.
The transformation happened following a series of interventions facilitated by the Urban-Surabaya Transformation Advocacy and Research (U-STAR), a pilot project implemented by World Vision with the support of StarKids donors. StarKids is an initiative of Jetstar and World Vision Australia to help find a breakthrough in the lives of poor children in Southeast Asia.
U-STAR conducted an intensive assessment in Pegirian in 2009 to nail the real obstacles faced by children and the community. With inputs from local teenagers, it was discovered the main obstacle was the failure of parents and local leaders to ‘listen to children’s ideas and aspirations’. In short, two-way communication with children was almost non-existence in most families and the community.
This gave birth to the Child Friendly Kampong movement in Pegirian. U-STAR, in cooperation with the Psychology Department of Widya Mandala University, conducted a series of communication training for Pegirian children and facilitated them to really talk with the local leaders.
“We share with them the basic arts of communications and how they could improve the way they communicate with their parents and community leaders,” says U-STAR Team Leader Lakhsmi ‘Nunus’ Subandi. “In short, we help them to communicate with greater respect to others.”
Now, families have much better communication and a better understanding between one another and better support from community leaders.
Pegirian village head Suseno embraced the opportunity to better cooperate with the teenagers. “Come to my office and ask anything on your mind,” he says, convincing group leader Saiful and his colleagues.
Suseno and other leaders started attending the children activities to show their support. They have even been regularly playing futsal – smaller version of football with five players in each team - and singing along together with Saiful and his friends to strengthen their maturing understanding.
They have even raised funds for the construction of a children’s centre, which now has become the heart of Pegirian children’s activities.
Fanny Aprillia, a twelfth grader, is among the teenagers benefiting from the communications training and the activities facilitated by U-STAR. She could better explain to her parents about her activity with the children’s group and the many benefits she could learn from them. “My parents are now very supportive to my participation in the children’s group.” Her father works as a clerk at the nearby courier service with salary barely adequate to support his family.
U-STAR also helped connect Pegirian children with the Surabaya International School (SIS). Since early 2011, Pegirian children have enjoyed free weekly trainings of English and computer at SIS compound. In each training, 15 to 30 children participated. Each course ran for three months.
The training at SIS and interaction with colleagues with different nationalities has greatly impacted the Pegirian children. Their world is no longer limited by their poverty. They are starting to build their dreams beyond all their limitations.
Fanny, for example, has just returned from a comparative study to Xiamen, China. She joined the selection process conducted by the Surabaya administration to select 18 students to take part in the study visit to China. Her confidence, English mastery, and other extraordinary characteristics impressed the selection team. She was selected and went to China visiting schools and other interesting places.
This experience has inspired her to better prepare for her future. She did not plan to follow her sister’s path, who got married when she was 19. “I want to go to college to study management.”
Saiful, just graduating from senior high school, is also preparing to study psychology. “I’m raising some funds for my study.” He is in love with psychology, following his intense mentoring of many younger children.
Saiful, Fanny and scores of other Pegirian teenagers have won the hearts of their parents and their community. They are no longer trapped in frustration and poverty. They are starting to walk very different paths of lives; lives that promise much more opportunities to contribute to their community and even more.